Sheep foot tamper



Oct. 4, 1938. G M, @woRE 2,131,947

SHEEP FOOT TAMPER Filed Nov. 26, 1.935

Patented Oct. 4, 1938 2 131 947.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHEEP FOO-T TAMPER Gordon M. Gilmore, Los Angeles', Calif., assignor to Los Angeles Steel CastingCompany, Ltd., Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Application November 26, 1935, Serial No. 51,612

5 Claims. (CI. 94-48) This invention relates to tampers of the sheep of adjacent tamping elements, and whereby the foot type, such as are employed on tamping rollreplacement of all the feet on a roller may be ers 'of the character used in compacting the" sureasily, quickly and economically .eifected and 'fa'ce of the soil'as for example in roadbuilding 'opwithout the necessity of disturbing weld joints or 5 erati'ons. performing weld operations, and whereby such re- Tampers of the above type are ordinarily newal may beeffected in the field with simple formed of cast metal in a' single piece and are tools. affixe'd'to the periphery of a cylindrical roller by Another object is to Provide a C'OIIStI'IIGtiOII in a weld joint; a series of the tamp'ers being'a'pplied a sheep foot tamper whereby the foot portion and to the roller in circumferential and longitudinal shank p rt thereof are separable, and m- 10 rows thus stud'din'g the roller with a multiplicity bodving a me ns o con e t on between the foot 'o'fthe tampin'g elements with the adjacent elep rtion and shank inv lving solely a wedge enme'nts so arranged and having their outer ends so eas ment b e n 17118 I001; and Shank thereby formed as to leave an unbroken tread mark in the obviating the us of upp a connecting surface of the ground being roller tamped. In elements such as pins, bolts, keys, screw threads, 15 event-any of the tamper elements become broken weld joints, and the like, and which construction or excessively worn, it is necessary to remove the permits 0f the Shank being formed with a soft defective element and replace it with one in propme base t is easily Welded With no risk of e'r condition otherwise the elficiency of the tampcracking in applying the shank to the roller, and

:0 'ing roller is impaired. Ordinarily such removal also permits of the' foot being formed of a hardof a tamping element is a laborious and time conened wear-resistant metal, such as a heat treated sumi-ng task and accordingly a costly operation, steelgand the wearing tread surface of the sheep and furthermore is difficult of accomplishment by foot tamper being rendered far more resistant to reason of the necessity of reforming a replaceabrasions than in the ordinary construction now ment tamperelem'ent to conform to the other generally employed. 95

'tampers on'the roller which may be considerably A further object is to provide a 'demountable 'worn'an'd'out of conformity with an" added new foot for sheep foot tampers together with an astampe'r. Furthermore it has been the practice'to sociated shank formed for telescopic engagement form" the tamper foot with a tamping area of apwith the foot, including means embodied in the proximately six square inches'which area is dijoint whereby proper interconnection of the foot 30 minished: under wear. When the seat has worn on the shank and also proper positioning of the away to re'ducethe'tamping area to approximately foot on the shank will be insured, and whereby adfive square inches the tampingfoo-t is considered justment to effect alignment of the foot portion "useless, and as aconsequenc'e it becomes neceson the shank is rendered unnecessary.

5 sary when the tempers on a roller have'becom'e With the foregoingobjects in view together with excessively worn to 'either discard the roller such other objects and advantages as may subsewith its-'asse'mblage'of tampers, or to refit therollquently appear, the inventionis' carried into effect er with 'a'complete assemblage of new tampers, as hereinafter fully described, and as illustrated either of which involve considerableexpense. 'by way of example in the accompanying drawing, 40 In repairing worn tampers it is necessary to in which: 40 build up the worn portion by welding operation Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a sheep foot andwhere a'number of the tamper feet'on a roller tamper depicting the manner of assembling the are badly worn, it is not acceptable to weld new parts; portions being broken away to show parts in ones here and there on the roller as such new cross'section;

"tampers would be considerably longer than the Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the tamper shank; 45 oldon'e's which would-preclude proper tamping ac- Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the tamper foot; tion of the roller. Fig. 4 is a view in end elevation of a fragmen- I he present invention'is designed to obviate the tary portion of a tamping roller showing it as objectionable features incident to the ordinary equipped with the sheep foot tampi'ng elements.

sheep foot campers above pointedout, and has Referring to the drawing more specifically, A 5 'as its primary object the provision of a conindicates generally theshank of the sheep foot struction whereby any one or more of the-feet of p r'and B designates the-demountable ta p r the tamping roller may be readily removed and foot. y replaced and whereby a renewed foot of a tamp- In carrying out the invention the shank A is ing "element may be easily conformed to the feet jprmedofv ductile cast steel, whereby the tamper 55 shank is rendered subject to being readily mounted on the periphery of a cylindrical roller C as indicated in Fig. 4 by a weld joint, and the foot element B is formed of heat treated cast steel whereby the shoe B is rendered resistant to abrasive wear.

The shank A is formed with an elongated tapered body portion 6 of general frusto-conical form having a taper of low pitch, the shank being here shown as having its outer surface extending at an angle of four degrees relative to the plane of the axis of the shank. The enlarged end portion of the shankis formed with an arcuate flange 1 having a concave bearing surface 8 formed to conform to the curvature of the periphery of the cylindrical roller C.'

The tamping foot B embodies a collar 9 of general cylindrical contour, the inner periphery of which is tapered to conform to the taper of the shank; the collar being designed to receive the outer end of the tapered'shank 6' and to have wedged frictional engagement therewith.

The tamping foot B further embodies a tread portion l formed integral with the collar 9 which tread portion is formed with an arcuate outer face H formed on a curvature which when the tamping foot is mounted on the shank and the latter afiixed to the roller C will extend in the direction of the circumferential length of the cylindrical roller concentric with the axis of the latter. -The tread face ll is straight transversely and terminates at its rear end in a heel l2 and at its forward end in a toe M, which heel and toe portions are rounded in continuation of the tread face of the foot such as to impart to the end faces of the foot a streamlined contour whereby on rotating the roller B the tread will be brought in and out of contact with the surface being contacted with a minimum of disturbance of the compacted material.

In mounting the tamping feet on the shanks they are disposed with their heel portions l2 positioned to extend in the direction of rotation of the roller with the transverse straight faces of the treads thereof extending in the direction of. the. length of the roller.'

It being quite important thatthe foot members be properlyaligned on the shank and disposed with the heel portion thereof forwardmost, means are provided for insuring application of thefoot to the shank in proper relative relation thereto. This means is here shown as embodying a straight flat surface l formed onthe tip portion of the shank and extending diagonally from the reduced end of the shank and also embodying a correspondingly contoured fillet l6 formed on the inner periphery of the collar 9 whereby on inserting the reduced end of the shank into the collar 9 it can only be brought to its'seated position in the latter whenthe flat face l5"on the shank is brought into parallel relation to the fiat face of the fillet I6. As here shown the flat face l5.and fillet iii are formed on the forwardmost portions of the shank and foot member; but manifestly maybe disposed at any other tpoint around the periphery of the shank and foot memberthe shank in telescopic engagement therewith as shown in Fig. l, the foot being driven into tight, wedge or tapered engagement with the outer end portion of the shank and being aligned thereon as before described.

.In event it becomes necessary to remove and replace any one or more of the tamping feet B it is only necessary ineffecting removal of a foot to drive it outwardly longitudinally. of the shank to free it from the latter, and on thus being removed another foot may be quickly positioned on the shank. In this fashion all of the tamping feet on a roller may be readily renewed.

Furthermore the renewed tamping feet if not excessively worn may be reconditioned by build.- ing up the worn portion by the usual welding operation.

When it becomes necessary to replace a worn or broken foot the replacement foot may be readily formed to conform with the feet on adjacent shanks so as to. extend on a plane therewith.

Iclaim:

1. In a sheep foot tamper, a ductile metallic shank formed with a base suitable for welding outer end portion of low pitch, and a hardened metal tamping foot formed with a collar having 5" an internal taper to conform to the taper of said shank, said tamping foot being driven onto said shank in frictional wedge engagement therewith, said shank having a diagonally extending flat face leading from the reduced end thereof, and said collar being formed with an internal fillet having a flat face conforming to the flat face on said shank.

3. A sheep foot tamper comprising a shank formed with a base of ductile metal, and having a tapered outer end portion formed with a flat face extending diagonally from the reduced end 'of the'shank, and a hardened tamping foot formed with a collar having an internal taper conforming to the tapered end portion of said shank and having a fillet arranged to conform to and engage with the fiat face on said shank.

4. In a tamping roller, a metallic cylinder, a series of sheep foot tampers carried on the periphery of said cylinder each of which embodies a shankformed with a ductile metal base affixed to the cylinder by a weld joint, said shank having a tapered outer end portion formed with a flat face extending diagonally from the reduced end of the shank, a demountable hardened. metal tampingfoot formed with a collar telescopically carried on the outer end of said shank, said collar having an internal taper conforming to and engaging with the tapered outer end of said shank, said tamping shoe having an arcuate tread face formed on an arc concentric with the axis of said roller, and a fillet in said collar arranged to engage the flat face on said shank to align the foot thereon with its arcuate tread extending in parallel relation to the circumference of said roller, said foot being held on said shank solely by frictional engagement therewith and being adapted to be detached therefrom by driving the foot outwardly longitudinally of said shank.

5. In a sheep-foot roller tamper. a metallic cylindrical roller, a series of tamper shanks, arouate bases formed on said shanks seating on and shank on which it is carried, each of said tampers being formed with an arcuate tread face terminating in curved heel and toe portions, and cooperating means on said shanks and collars for positioning and maintaining said tampers with the arcuate tread faces thereof extending in the direction of the circumference of said roller.

GORDON M. GILMORE. 

